Empire and Health

Before the advent of modern medicine, West Africa had been considered the ‘white man’s grave’. As European colonisation and expansion into Africa gathered apace, improved health care and the eradication of disease assumed ever-increasing importance. From malaria to bilharzia, the plague to smallpox, these films highlight the methods adopted throughout the 20th century, not only within Africa but across the British Empire. With many of these films produced for local audiences, and showing advances in maternity care and sanitation, they also illustrate the increasing prominence afforded to health as part of Britain’s colonial welfare policy.

The Colonial Film website is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and features films from the British Film Institute, the Imperial War Museum, and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum.